TMI Blog1956 (9) TMI 56X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s was that the petitioners instigated hartal bringing about a complete stoppage of work, business and transport with a view to promote lawlessness and disorder, and that is a ground on which an order could be made under section 3(2). All the contentions urged by the petitioners therefore fail, and these petitions must be dismissed - W.P.(C) 102 OF 1956 - - - Dated:- 17-9-1956 - SUDHI RANJAN DAS, T.L. VENKATARAMA AIYYAR, BHUVNESHWAR P SINHA, S.K.DAS AND P. GOVINDA MENON, JJ. JUDGMENT These are petitions filed under article 32 of the Constitution for the issue of writs in the nature of habeas corpus. They arise on the same facts and raise the same questions. On 13-1-1956 the Commissioner of Police, Bombay, passed orders under section 3(2) of the Preventive Detention Act IV of 1950 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), directing the detention of the present petitioners, and pursuant thereto, they were actually arrested on 16-1-1956. The grounds on which the orders were made were formulated on 19-1-1956, and communicated to the petitioners the next day. On 21-1-1956 the Commissioner reported the fact of the order and the grounds therefor to the State Government, wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nderstood to exclude mesne acts or time And on the Statute Hue and Cry, 27 Eliz. c. 13, s. 11, where' the words with as much convenient speed as may be, are made use of, all the precedents have expressed these words, by the word immediate, as may be seen in the books. The last case which I shall mention on this point, is that of the writs-of habeas corpus, issuing out of this Court, which are most frequently made returnable immediately; and in this case the word is never understood either to exclude mesne acts or time, but only means, with convenient speed In Beg. v. The Justices of Worcester(1), where the question was as to the meaning of the word forthwith in section 50 of 6 Will. IV, Coleridge, J. observed: I agree that this word 'forthwith' is not to receive a strict construction like the word 'immediately',, so that whatever follows, must be done immediately after that which has been done before. By referring to section 50, it seems that whatever is to be done under it, ought to be done without any unreasonable delay. I think that the word 'forthwith' there used, must be considered as having that meaning' The meaning of the word immediate ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ill and others(1) which was a case of charterparty, it was observed at page 280: Forthwith' means without unreasonable delay. The difference between undertaking to do something 'forthwith' and kithin a specified time is familiar to everyone conversant with law. To do a thing 'forthwith' is to do it as soon as is reasonably convenient . In Reg. v. Price(2), it was held by the Privy Council that the word forthwith in a bail bond meant within a reasonable time from the service of notice. On these authorities, it may be taken, an act which is to be done forthwith must be held to have been so done, when it is done with all reasonable despatch and without avoidable delay. But it is argued by Mr. N. C. Chatterjee that the view taken in the above decisions as to the meaning of the word forthwith has been abandoned in the later decisions, and that under the law as it stands, when an act has to be performed forthwith in relation to another, what has to be decided is not whether it was done within a reasonable time, but whether it was done so closely upon the other as to form together one continuous act. He relied in support of this opinion on the decision in Be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tch(1) and Ex parte Lamb: In re Southam(2) which can be considered as marking a departure from the construction put on the word forthwith in the earlier authorities that it meant only that the act should be performed with reasonable speed and expedition, and that any delay in the matter should be satisfactorily explained. It is argued for the petitioners that even if the con. struction put on the word forthwith in the above decisions is accepted as correct, it must, in any event, yield to any contrary intention expressed in the statute, and that the provisions of the Act afforded clear indication of such an intention. It is co intended that the legislature while providing in section 7 that the grounds should be communicated to the detenu as soon as may be has enacted that the report under section 3(3) should be sent forth- with , that the use of two different expressions in the two sections is a clear indication that they do not mean the same thing, that as the words as soon as may be import that the act might be performed in a reasonable time, the word forthwith which is more peremptory must be construed as excluding it. The decisions in Emperor v. Phuchai(I.L.R. 50 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... authority could satisfy us that, in spite of all diligence, it was not in a position to send the report during the period from 13th to 21st January 1956. We must now examine the facts from the above standpoint. The Commissioner of Police has filed an affidavit explaining why the reports were not sent till 21,st January 1956, though the orders themselves had been made as early as 13th January 1956. Ever since the publication of the proposal to form a State of Maharashtra without the city of Bombay, there ,had been considerable agitation for the establishment of a Samyuktha Maharashtra with the city of Bombay included in it. An action committee had been set up on 15-11-1955 for the purpose, and there had been hartal and morchas resulting in outbursts of lawlessness and violence and in the burning of a police chowki. The final decision on the question was expected to be taken and announced in the middle of January 1956, and the atmosphere was highly sur- charged. It was in this situation that the Commissioner decided to take action under section 3(2) of the Act against the leading spirits of -the movement, and passed the present orders for detention against the petitioners on 13-1- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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